Interesting Facts About Tires

Interesting Facts About Tires

1. Early cars used “artillery wheels” that had the tire bolted to the wheel. Have fun changing that flat

2. For the first 25 years of the car, all tires were white. Zinc oxide was added to the rubber for strength, but had a side effect of making bright white tires.

3. By the second decade of the 21st Century, researchers were looking for more ways to increase durability. Carbon black, waste product of the petroleum industry, added longevity to the tire, but changed the color to black.

4. Originally, the whitewall tires was invented when a carbon black tread was melded with a zinc white sidewall. The result was the world’s first whitewall tire, made by Vogue Tyres of Chicago, in 1914.

5. Whitewalls were originally on both sidewalls. The cars had open fenders, and pedestrians could see both sides of the tires as a car drove by.

6. The natural color of rubber is white, not black. Manufacturers of tires add carbon black to rubber to increase various qualities that prolong the life of the tire.

7. The World’s Largest Tire is in Allen Park, Michigan. The tire is a 12-ton, 80-foot-tall tower to withstand hurricane-force winds. It served as a Ferris wheel at the 1964-1965 New York’s World Fair.

 8. In 1961, Goodyear experimented with an illuminated tire. Lit from the inside by glass incandescent bulbs, the softly glowing white tires never left the show circute